ТУР В MARE NOSTRUM TOUR TO MARE NOSTRUM

Dear potential tourists, in the sea of ​ ​ the Internet, stumbled upon the 4-star hotel Mare Nostrum! I want (as I promised in a fit of high satisfaction to the staff of the organizer of excursion tours from the Mare Nostrum hotel - Mouzenidis Travel) to bring to your attention reliable (as it seems to me) information about the tour, about the hotel... Trip 8 days, 7 nights. Departure August 9 - arrival August 16.2007.
Firstly, despite the fact that we bought the tours from the company "Yuzhel", the charterer of the aircraft and the host was the company Mouzenidis Travel. But at the time of the search, there were no tickets.
First, about the bad. . . I don't know whose fault it is, or it's unavoidable force majeure circumstances. KrasAir (AirUnion) airlines, Mouzenidis Travel aircraft charterer or the airport (most likely the latter, but this does not make it easier for passengers and the mentioned tour participants should decide this), but we stood in lines:

flight Moscow-Athens:
for baggage check-in at Domodedovo about 1 hour, at other "cordons" probably about 1 more hour;
to stamp a passport at customs in Athens for about 1 hour (if there were 5 booths, they passed only through one, the second passed through diplomatic passports and only occasionally some of our queue (until they approached with diplomatic passports or tourists from the European Union))
flight Athens-Moscow:
for baggage check-in in Athens for more than 1 hour (the representative of Mouzenidis Travel said that there were some malfunctions, probably, computers, not the conveyor - other terminals worked);
to get luggage (especially) and pass the remaining 4-5 "cordons" in Domodedovo for almost 2 hours (arrived like at 20:45, left Domodedovo at 22:45). What is especially unpleasant is that many passengers of our flight did not have time to receive their baggage on the baggage conveyor, and already on our conveyor they announced the receipt of baggage from another plane (flight) that arrived later.
Stuffiness... Air conditioners or not, or they can't cope...
In addition, we have no time left for shopping in Duty Free. Keep this in mind, owners and managers of Duty Free businesses. . .
Here, in fact, are all subjective shortcomings...

Now about the good. At Athens airport, we were met by a minibus (in general, all trips are organized by transport of the minimum required capacity - very logical) by a Russian-speaking driver and in 30 minutes we were at the hotel. 2-3 minutes at the reception and the groom takes our luggage to the room on the 5th floor. A slight annoyance is the fact that we paid for a TPL (triple-for three) bungalow, and they give us a DBL (double-for two) and an ex-bed (extra bed). Formally, an ex-bed should cost less than a full-fledged place in the TPL, we are told: "Do you want a bungalow - please! But maybe first look at what number? " We agree. The son is quite satisfied with the extra bed (super-folding bed), and we will not be disturbed by discos and other events around the pool, around which the bungalows are located. Since we are not from Moscow, we received all the documents from the Yuzhel representative before departure at the airport (dangerous and hopeless, of course), we could not get anything from this representative about replacing our TPL with DBL + EX_BED ("They are something messed up"). But we liked such an easy solution to the issue in the hotel.
The room is large enough - the third bed is not a hindrance. About the room. The furniture is new. Wood or very good veneer. The closets in the hallway are exhaustive, lots of hangers. Floor - parquet or laminate - you can walk barefoot, because it's clean. An armchair, a large mirror, a table under the mirror, a TV on it. There are about 20 programs on TV, two in Russian, one of which is RTR-Planeta. There was a breath of Soviet times, since there are no detectives, action films, science fiction, let there be no alternative Soviet cinema in the program, or we were so lucky. All films like "The feat of the scout", giving, in my opinion, too tendentious image of Russia, exclusively "positive" - ​ ​ IN SHORT, THERE WAS NOTHING TO WATCH,... YES AND NO TIME, it's a pity, there were no relatives "ORT", "RTR" , "NTV" - news programs). Pleased only with the Greek MAD with popular music and a bit of alternative rock...
The refrigerator behind the wooden door under the table is small, rather a mini-bar, it cools rather weakly, but they managed. A balcony overlooking the hotel under construction and the sea - it's good that despite the east side, the sun was direct for a smaller part of the daylight hours, which means less heating of the balcony and the room. 2 comfortable reliable armchairs-chairs and a chic wooden table. The audibility of the neighbors on the balcony is high... When the door to the balcony is closed, the noise is absolutely inaudible. Protective blinds from light entering the room - less heating. Curtains. A very good individual (and not a central split system, turned on by the owners when they please, and not as each client wants) air conditioning - YOU CAN'T LIVE WITHOUT IT - worked all day, turned off only when we left on day trips. Plumbing flawlessly, bath, shower, hair dryer, liquid soap, towels, everything is fine. A telephone (it turned out not to be needed, for example, to call a taxi or a groom from the room to deliver cigarettes to the room), individual lighting over the beds. Bedside tables. Paintings on the walls. It is very nice to have a cardboard "sign" on the door handle with the inscriptions "do not disturb", "clean the room" on both sides. Since the room was cleaned every day, and even bed linen was changed every day, I didn’t want to “get out” 1-2 times in the morning, like from Soviet hotels during cleaning with rattling buckets and mops. The key is a magnetic card (they gave 2 for three). The same key activated the power supply in the room, opened and closed the safe in the room - do not carry with you and do not put cash taken with you on the tour under the mattress.
Despite the outward nondescriptness of the "bungalow", they say that it is just as good inside as in the rooms.

The reception and other halls on the 1st floor are huge - there is always a place to sit and just sit, wait. Air conditioner. Ashtrays (loyal to smoking in the country). Elevator (I noticed them about five) wait no more than 1-5 minutes. Strange numbering of floors: (bottom) 1.2, 3.0 (floor - reception floor, restaurant, bar), 4.5, 6. In order not to go from floor 1 through the asphalt internal road of the hotel, down the stairs between the bungalows to the pool just some 15-20 meters, or then do not go up from the pool (sea) to the hotel from the pool to the reception every 30 minutes (but you can also call through the caretaker sitting on the gate of the hotel’s fence of the entrance-exit to the sea) there are electric cars for 6-8 people - pure luxury, but we enjoyed - very nice.
An excellent pool with depth marks: 0.7 m. , 1 m. , 1.2 m.... 3.5 m. - that is, you go or slide down from the pool parapet to the depth you want. Near the pool there is a tavern, a mini-bar with drinks, ice cream, a room for issuing beach towels (5 euros per day deposit, you can change it for all 8 days, change it any day if it's wet or dirty), equipment (for ping-pong, for example) . It is highly desirable to be able to explain yourself in at least 1 of 3 languages: English, French, German. Sun loungers around the pool and up to the fence under the palm trees in the shade are free. Behind the fence is already a municipal territory - there are sunbeds for 2.5 euros per day (they give a receipt for a mini-KKM, you will leave, you will not have to pay again). For some reason, stationary umbrellas are free. It may happen that the girl does not fit, which means you won’t have to pay. Some spread out their towels.
The beach is MUNICIPAL, not a hotel, but there are few "municipal" visitors. The first line (3 meters) of the beach (if you look at the sea) - sand with pebbles, cigarette butts, bottle caps, but a sandy entrance to the sea - there, as a rule, there are adults with children, but we also entered and sailed far enough from the chumps children, because the sea is very flat and the depth is up to 1.5 meters - very convenient. On the right, the beach (shore) is the same, only the entrance to the sea is a stone parapet + handrails. I don’t advise jumping, it’s better to immediately swim from the handrails and climb back onto the handrails without touching the bottom with your feet, do not stand on the bottom - it is quite overgrown with algae and... sea urchins - I did catch 2 needles. But the almost complete absence of swimmers. Yes, and on the "children's beach" there are not so many of them, and at some hours and with wind, waves, there are 5-10 people.
Breakfast (continental) from 7:00 or "American buffet" from 7:30 to 10:00. In fact, a buffet - you take what you want and how much you want. Sausages, cheeses, types of scrambled eggs, cereals, yoghurts, juices, coffee, tea, etc. There is something more serious, but there is no need. Dinner from 19:30 to 21:30 buffet. Probably thousands or at least hundreds of dishes. It's hard to list everything. Not out of greed, but out of curiosity, (I) laid large plates in a heap. And 10 pieces of meat hot dishes and salads, from fruits: melons, watermelons, peaches, apples. Several types of ice cream. 2-4 types of cheeses, sausages (although we would not eat these sausages in terms of meat content - that would be something to export to Greece), slicing boiled meat. In general, all meat dishes are low-fat. Or so it came across. Some kind of boiled or stewed meat, be it beef, lamb, pork or lamb. There were no escalopes and entrecote. . .

From the national cuisine, I liked the pastry casseroles with meat and tzatziki (sorry, if I wrote it wrong, but it looks like) - yogurt or sour cream with salted cucumbers, they took all the days. Watermelons seem to be worse than our Astrakhan ones, melons are sweet only if they have red flesh (there were only 1-2 days like that). Wine for the money is about 5 euros, a jug of 0.5 like ("dry wood"). Beer 0.33 - 3 euros. Free cold water with ice for dinner - do not laugh, because in the heat, but in general water is the most important thing in Greece... In general, there are no complaints about nutrition. There are a lot of people, but there are always places. They said not to go to dinner in sports and beach clothes (breeches, swimming trunks, swimsuit, shorts), but I saw violations. However, a lot of foreigners went out in evening dresses. The waiters come up ten times, remove the plates, but are not intrusive. There are Russian speakers.
The hotel provides parking and car rental. It seemed to me that most of the holidaymakers are French, then Germans, Italians and the Greeks themselves, who come for the weekend to the hotel, famous, as they say, for the best set of thalassotherapy procedures (20 euros almost all day). Russians at the same time, I think, no more than 15-30 people, with a total number of vacationers about 500. Maybe I'm wrong... We didn't need dinner, as you understand. Although on excursions we visited taverns. Lunch cost 12-20 euros. But DRINKING IS EXTREMELY NECESSARY, ESPECIALLY FOR THE CORE. In the hotel you can buy it during the day only in the bar (0.33 Coca-Cola 3 euros, beer 0.33 - 3 euros (Greek Mythos, in my opinion, even better than domestic pasteurized), ice cream about 2 euros, plain water 0 , 33 and then about 1 euro). If we knew right away that 100 meters further down the road from the hotel there are shops where there is Cola 0.33 for 0.6 euros and beer for 1 euro !! !... And in Athens on the day of the tour we bought a package of water 6 bottles of 1.5 liters at a price of 1 euro per bottle. There are probably cheaper ones somewhere.
A few prices in these shops (like our "selpo"):
watermelon 1 kg. - 2 euros,
melon 1 kg 0.8-1.15 euros,
potatoes 0.8-1.15 euros,
peaches 1 kg. - 2.5-3 euros,
etc.

Expensive. Like we have. But for the salary of the Greeks, probably not expensive. Greek cigarettes under the control of well-known foreign brands up to 3 euros per pack. Alcohol from 3 euros for 0.7 to 12-15 euros for 0.5-0.7 local strong drinks such as our moonshine rakia (rakia), ouzo (ouzo (oyzo) - anise), tsikoudia (tsikoudia). And nearby is our "capital" 0.7 for the same 13 euros. And there are American and other famous brands of whiskey, liquors, tequila, aperitifs for the same 12-16 euros. So the only thing that is clearly cheaper than retail in Russia is imported Western alcoholic drinks. Manufactured goods are also here: masks + snorkels for swimming (9 euros), toothpaste (2-3 euros), lotions (2-3 euros), shampoos (2-3 euros), suntan-shaving creams (2-3 euros). ), playing cards, flippers. There is a souvenir shop nearby (I would buy everything, but small amphorae, including non-handmade ones, cost from 10 euros!!! ).
From the relatively cheap areas of Athens - Plaka (near the Acropolis) and Monastiraki (also nearby, on foot). I wanted to buy a leather business card and a briefcase - it wasn’t there: simple briefcases from 140 euros, business cards from 80 - I didn’t find others (they gave me only 2 hours after excursions, and it’s not serious to hang around in the heat). Only 2 words about excursions - museums are really free for children under 18 years old. Everywhere tickets from 3 to 11 (to the Acropolis, but there are coupons for another 5 seats for 4 days) euros. Someone will say: "What is there to see? ! Stones?!!! ". Not stones, but ruins, excavations, dilapidated architectural monuments, sculptures, frescoes, bas-reliefs, decorations, cult and even ancient scalpels in Epidaurus in the Museum of the Temple of Asclepius (Aesculapius). With the same success, you can ask: "What to see in a museum of fine arts? Paintings? So you can see them in reference publications, books, photo albums! ". Not stones, but in some cases huge stones of walls, crypts, tombs, processed and delivered in an unknown way, dating back to the 15th-20th century BC. This is our childhood with the myths of ancient Greece, gods, heroes, known to almost everyone. With old and today's foreign films "Alexander", "Troy", "Odyssey", "300 Spartans", etc.
All excursions are climbing the mountains, the heat is higher than that of the sea, but initiation to a certain sacrament, mystical, heroic, beautiful, majestic. In order to be able to choose, we did not purchase a sightseeing tour, where out of 8 days 7 days you need to "dangle" from hotel to hotel throughout Greece with a return to the hotel only in the evening. A swimming tour for, in general, a lot of money did not suit us either. Fortunately, the hotel has built its relationship with tour companies based on its territory in such a way that they recruit groups from almost any number of people (at least 4 people, it seems). We went on a tour to Delphi with seven of us, including a guide. Guided tours by day of the week. I don't remember exactly, but I think Friday is Athens, Saturday is Delphi, Wednesday is Epidaurus-Mycenae.
It would be nice if these tour companies published on hotel websites

these schedules and prices. After all, people can come and, because of the lack of a group, do not get on an excursion to some place at all. From the site, I learned that there are 2 Greek excursion companies operating at the hotel, that vouchers cost from 60 euros to Athens to 100 euros to Meteora (monasteries of monks in the rocks). I even asked these companies about the addresses of their websites and prices, guarantees of visiting the excursions I needed. But not everyone answered, and everything turned out differently. In addition to those indicated, the hotel apparently employs representatives of other excursion companies specializing in tourists of various countries. In any case, the Russian-speaking organizer of excursion tours turned out to be at the hotel, apparently the same Mouzenidis Travel named Galina... The bus drivers are also Russian-speaking 2 Yuri and Fedor. Russian-speaking guide - Konstantin - the so-called "Pontic Greek", who was born and studied in Russia, in appearance for about 50 years, in my opinion, a man of great erudition in love with history and just a pleasant person with a sense of humor. Listening to him is a pleasure! May he forgive me if I said something wrong. A number of tourists said that they also came across not very good guides. In extreme cases, it is possible to go on an excursion with a group of French or English people. Well, you won't understand something if you don't know the language! But you will still see a lot, buy illustrated catalogs of archaeological zones, museums in Russian (7-10 euros).
So, out of 8 days, we managed 3 excursions:
Athens - 8:00-13:30, free time 2 hours 15:30-17:00
Delphi - 8:00-18:00
Epidaurus-Mycenae - 8:00-20:30
Of course, there are hundreds more places in Greece to see. This is Mount Olympus, and Olympia (not to be confused with Mount Olympus) - the area where the Olympic Games were held, and Meteora (a) (ancient active monasteries in the rocks) and Patras, and Corinth, and Cape Sounion, and Thermopylae (300 Spartans) and the islands, especially Corfu (Kerkyra), Rhodes (Colossus of Rhodes), Crete (the labyrinth of the Minotaur-Knossos Palace).
We even managed to swim on the days of excursions, and 4 days of free beach recreation. For people who cannot afford to visit one country or even travel abroad due to their health, free time, money, according to the principle: this year I want a beach holiday in Crete, next year I will go on a fur coat tour in Thessaloniki, and after 2 year in a sightseeing tour 7 days of excursions and trips of 8 days, probably quite an acceptable vacation. More expensive, of course, than in Crete, but...
I am a "core", "diabetic" and "hypertensive". But he moved the tour absolutely fine. And he ate, as I said, without thinking about diabetes, and drank, and climbed mountains. 35 - degree heat is tolerated satisfactorily. Pay attention to humidity. It is dry in Greece, despite the sea (probably, the specifics of the green cover, the absence of forests as such, our green grass, etc. ) - that's the answer. And he returned to our "steam room" and immediately both my heart and my head ached for a change in the weather. That's all like. The website of the hotel is www. mare-nostrum. gr. Thank you Greece, thank you Mare Nostrum, thank you Mouzenidis Travel, thank you Yuzhel!
Igor